PREHEAT oven to broil or an outdoor grill to medium-high heat.
To make the lamb:
1. Rub the lamb shoulder pieces with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Broil or grill for 4 to 5 minutes...

Have you ever tried cooking your chicken low and slow? It is a common method of cooking the best brisket, but not as well known for chicken. There are a few ways to do this, our recipe takes advantage...

The New Passover Menu is the newest cookbook written by Paula Shoyer. In this innovative new cookbook, Paula does an excellent, and I must say delicious, job of creating new recipes that work in the confines...

The New Passover Menu is the newest cookbook written by Paula Shoyer. In this innovative new cookbook, Paula does an excellent, and I must say delicious, job of creating new recipes that work in the confines...

In the JoyofKosher Kitchen with Geila Hocherman

Geila Hocherman is the author of the new cookbook, Kosher Revolution. She attended La Varenne and has received certificates from Paris’s Cordon Bleu and Manhattan’s Peter Kump’s Cooking School, now the Institute of Culinary Education. She was gourmet food buyer for Bloomingdales, worked as a private kosher caterer, and was a prep-cook at the Food Network. She has also contributed to the former kosher-cooking site, bfruitfull.com.

What is the Kosher Revolution?

Kosher revolution is your passport to unlimited kosher cooking, giving you the tools to make any dish Kosher without compromise. Kosher Revolution is a new way of thinking about kosher cooking that removes constraints while still observing kosher practice.

What are your favorite substitutions for making a dairy dish parve?

That depends on whether the dish is sweet or savory. For savory I prefer neutral flavored nut milks, eggs, flavored oils or mayonnaise. For sweet I will lean toward a sweeter finish nut mulk, swiss meringue and again eggs in various forms for thickening.

All us foodies are enjoying the tastes of other cuisines and cultures and you share many in your book, what is your favorite cuisine?

While there are many fabulous Asian recipes in the book they are not from one culture. Of the European cultures my personal preference always runs to Italian. There are many Italian recipes in the book that go both ways, dairy and meat. My favorite is the linguine with roasted vegetables that I finish with a pareve parmesan. I find Italian food with its quality ingredients and simpler techniques well-suited for home cooks.

What is your earliest memory of cooking?

Making kreplach at age 4 with my Bubbie.

What is your favorite food?

Anything chocolate. The lava cakes, chocolate hazelnut souffle roll, and chocolate challah recipes in the book can attest to that.

What is your least favorite food?

It’s a tie between lima beans and black-eyed peas, with succotash coming in at a close 3rd place. None of these are in the book.

What is your most memorable cooking experience?

There are two. When I was seven, I set the kitchen on fire trying to make matzo brei for my little brother. In college, I would make shabbat dinner for a raucous crowd of 10-12 and a deafening silence would fall when I would bring out the chicken veronique–with grapes and mushrooms, page 95: The only sounds were the clinking of cutlery on plates and moans of pleasure.

What advice do you have for the busy home cook?

1. prepare as many elements of a dish in advance.

2. have a well stocked freezer and pantry.

3. Plan your menu carefully. Not every dish should be a star, only one complicated dish per meal.

***GIVEAWAY*** You can win your very own copy of Kosher Revolution by Geila Hocherman. In the comments below, please tell us what’s on your kosher Thanksgiving menu. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older, and must be US residents. Contest ends December 2 2011 at 9 am EST. One winner will be picked by online randomizer from qualifying comments.

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Tamar lives in New York and is the mother of three amazing children, a Registered Dietitian, professor of Nutrition, and as you can probably guess, a foodie! Tamar loves to travel with her family and visits kosher restaurants wherever she goes. Although she loves the sights, she spends more time talking about the restaurants and food she ate! As a mom and a nutritionist, Tamar tries to balance her passion for healthy cooking with her insatiable desire for chocolate!

The usual traditional dishes. I am using a home grown chicken to make roasted chicken stock to use for my gravy and stuffing this year. I tried a new apple cake for Rosh Hashanah and it was so good my family asked me to make it for Thanksgiving so that is new this year. But what I cannot wait for are the wonderful turkey sandwiches with leftover turkey. So good for breakfast with hot coffee.

We’ll have a turkey, and all the usual fixings. In my family we always starts with winter crudite and artichoke dip, then later have dinner. That’s the best part! We’re also switching up dessert this year to have “apple pie a la mode” without the crust, and pumpkin puddings.

My family prefers very “meat and potatoes” types of dishes, so I can never venture too far away from the traditional meal. I try to put my own little twists on things each year. I made a spinach, walnut, craisin and pear salad with a creamy maple dressing, butternut squash/apple soup, shallot and thyme roasted turkey, stuffing with veal/apple/nut sausage with apples and craisins, cranberry pear relish, maple roasted sweet potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts with balsamic vinegar, and pumpkin bread pudding for dessert. We were 10 adults, and there was only enough turkey left over for one meal!

No one here is really excited about turkey so I splurged and bought two rib roasts and will offer with them au juis or with my super duper horseradish sauce which can only be made with fresh horseradish. When I was a teen I worked for a neighbor lady who had a catering service in her basement which she kept kosher as well as her household and she told me that if you make this horseradish sauce with prepared horseradish you will be cursed for life. I think she was just pretending at least I hope so. Ha! Ha!

Since I’m vegan and kosher, I have to bring most everything I want to eat! This year I made a delicious butternut squash casserole with white beans, roasted chestnuts, and carmelized onions; vegan stuffing; and vegan sage gravy. Yum!!

We had pumpkin sweet potato soup, with sweet potato knaidlach. With a big salad and fresh home made bread, it was a wonderful meal. There’s just the two of us, and I’m vegetarian, so we decided our major time of Thanksgiving this year would be during Sukkot!

We started off Thanksgiving by watching my youngest daughter run in a local Turkey Trot for charity. Then it was back home to prepare and eat our turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts and mushroom stuffing, along with pecan pie, apple pie and chocolate chip pound cake. We started our feasting with chicken wings, guacamole, hummus and chips and football games on TV. While we were only 5 adults and my 2 year old granddaughter for Thanksgiving, we added 2 more adults to our Shabbat dinner. We also added chicken soup, mazel balls and alphabet noodles, lemon chicken and lemon sauce, and sauteed mushrooms with spinach, and the piece de resistance, turkey shaped challah! Leftover turkey sandwiches were eaten on my homemade artisan bread over Shabbat!

Among the fixins we had Turkey, meatballs, sweet potatoes, and this combo of mashed potatoes and mashed cauliflower that my mom made. Of course I am partial to the desserts since that was my contribution to the meal. Apple crisp, Pecan Pie, Blueberry pie, Brownies, Cappucino Mousse pie…all so yummy!

We had the traditional turkey and the traditional potato kugel and corn flake/challah stuffing. Then since my son has decided he doesn’t like turkey a piece of chicken. Sweet potatoes, green salad, carrots from turkey, pumpkin pie.